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"Lord Wang, after a month of training, the old brothers are already very good! Since we came to the south, the war horse is basically useless, and I haven't ridden a horse for so long, in the end, it's still rusty! Bai Xianzhong sighed and said.

"That's why I've always emphasized that skill training should be persistent, and every action in daily training should be turned into one's own instinct, so that is the final result. The effect of a month's training is okay, and it can look like this, which shows that the previous elite soldiers have not forgotten it! However, if you want to fully recover or even beyond, you will have to put in more effort than before! "Geng Jingzhong is also proficient in equestrianism, although it is not as good as the grassland elite riding who is accompanied by horses all day long, but as a superior person, he also rides horses often, and there is no problem in technology.

"I'll give you another two months, and let the old brothers work harder, and the expansion of the cavalry is about to begin. When the time comes, they will all be instructors. The better the technique, the higher the status in the cavalry regiment in the future, this is also the opportunity I give them, if you want to become a human being, then train hard! Geng Jingzhong also added strength to Bai Xianzhong, these words were not only told to the veterans below, but also to him.

How could Bai Xianzhong not hear Geng Jingzhong's words, and when he hugged his fists and replied: "Your subordinates must do a good job of training, and when the time comes, you will be given the most elite cavalry!" ”

"Well, it's good that you have that confidence. Our Mawei Navy is the strongest, then the Marine Army should also be the strongest, I want cavalry. At the very least, it can't be lower than the level of Wu Sangui's Guanning Iron Cavalry. No matter what. I have sufficient supplies in all aspects, and I don't believe that I can't train strong cavalry! Geng Jingzhong also clenched his fist confidently, waved it lightly and said. By the way, you are from a cavalry background, do you think there is anything that needs to be improved in the development of cavalry? ”

When Bai Xianzhong heard Geng Jingzhong's question, he immediately started thinking with his brain. "Lord Wang, as the saying goes: the brain is not used often, and the sword is not often sharpened. Soldiers are not often trained and not refined. The last general thinks that as long as we can continue to train, over time, we will naturally be able to practice a good riding skill, and when the time comes, everything will be a matter of course! ”

Seeing that Geng Jingzhong didn't say anything, he continued to speak: "Among the peoples in the northern grasslands, especially among the pure nomadic peoples, horses are more important than a qiē, and they are their main wealth. Horses are also inseparable from daily necessities, and they are in order to survive and develop. It is often used to brave extreme heat, bitter cold, snowstorms and diffuse wind and sand to cross mountains and mountains. Crossing the desert, chasing water and grass, and traveling long distances. If there were no horses, the steppe would be over. There is a popular Mongolian proverb that compares the image: 'The greatest misfortune in life is to leave your parents when you are a teenager and leave your horse in the middle of your life.' At the same time, horses are also special weapons of war. Every family has horses, and every family has horses, and there is no one who is not actively raising horses. In view of this, they are very familiar with the habits, functions, and training of horses, just as agricultural people are familiar with the land and crops. Our Han people are much worse in this regard, so if you want to train an elite cavalry, it is best to recruit some younger ones, and the plasticity is stronger, which is good for future development! ”

"Well, this one is good. After recruiting troops for so many periods, the age standard will be lowered, and it will take a long time to form combat power anyway. Geng Jingzhong nodded and said. Anything else? ”

"This" Bai Xianzhong muttered: "The last general has also found a problem!" ”

"You say!" Geng Jingzhong gestured.

"In the recent riding training, the old brothers' riding skills have recovered a little, so they began to chop and chop, which has only been around for a few days. The subordinates found that the Japanese knives uniformly equipped in the army were not very easy to use, and when they were riding on horses and galloping and chopping, the Japanese knives would be taken off from time to time, especially when they were chopping to the wooden stakes, it was easy to hold them unsteadily! Bai Xianzhong himself also participated in the training, this is the problem he just discovered in the past two days, but he didn't care too much, he didn't want to change weapons too much, after all, the saber is much better than the ordinary saber!

"Oh! And this problem! Geng Jingzhong glanced at him in surprise, and then thought that the cavalry seemed to have a special saber, which was specially designed, although ordinary knives could also be used, but after all, it was still a little worse, on the battlefield, a little gap can sometimes affect the battle situation! Later generations have also watched a lot of TV series of modern wars, although the cavalry of later generations has declined, but it is much more advanced than this era in weapon research and development, which refers to the application of mechanics!

The saber belongs to the wide back thin blade, the blade is heavier, which is conducive to increasing the strength of the chopping, the Mongolian saber line is smooth, the handle is generally slightly bent in the direction of the blade, so that the handle with the arc is more conducive to the rider's control, not easy to get rid of, but the Mongolian cavalry knife body is thinner than the military saber, and the weight is also lighter, and the Mongolian horseman's superb riding skills mainly rely on the strong impact force formed by the speed of the horse to drive the saber to complete the tactical actions such as chopping.

Now the horsetail army is equipped with all the Japanese knives, the handle of the Japanese knife is relatively long, suitable for infantry use, the cavalry is a lot worse to use, especially the handle is still straight, which is not conducive to control. In fact, for now, the scimitar used by the Mongols is also a good choice. When the Mongol cavalry fought, they simply placed their scimitars on the side of their saddles, and the curved part of the blade stretched out long. The shank is generally slightly curved towards the blade, and the part of the shank that is close to the shank is straight and much longer than the part of a regular scimitar that is close to the shank. This ensures that you will not injure yourself by mistake, and when the cavalry rushes into the enemy formation, it is easy to cut off the enemy's armor and armor, and it also saves the cavalry itself.

But Geng Jingzhong thought about it, changing the equipment of the cavalry, and didn't want to choose the Mongolian scimitar style, it was unpleasant to look at, and he didn't like it. I remember that I still have some impressions of the cavalry sabers I saw in later generations, and I went back and found someone to study them and design a saber that is really suitable for cavalry. "This question is very timely, and the temporary cavalry training should be used with a sword first, anyway, it is also for training. Going back, I had someone design a saber for cavalry. Just send it to the Wa country and let the craftsmen of the Wa country build it! I have to admit that the Wa Kingdom is also very good in this regard. I can't see anything else! ”

"Hehe, that's it!" Bai Xianzhong also smiled and said. The weapons of the Wa Kingdom are indeed excellent, but the prince and the Mawei army now prefer muskets, and although swords are a common configuration in the army, they are useless and have to be made by themselves.

"By the way, when I was thinking about forming a cavalry, I discussed with Chief of General Staff Li that our cavalry. Not only light cavalry but also heavy cavalry, but the equipment of these cavalry must be somewhat different from the previous ones. The simplest, such as equipping cavalry soldiers with muskets, should be called cavalry spears when it comes to cavalry units. I'm working on the development of the musket workshop in order to develop a short musket suitable for immediate combat within a year's time. Of course, other armor is also being made! ”

"The prince wants to form heavy cavalry?" Bai Xianzhong asked happily. Heavy cavalry is a cavalry equipped with heavy armor, their armor has the ability to withstand a certain attack, through the speed and momentum generated by the charge to create a suppressive breakthrough in the enemy's position, the main purpose is to break the enemy's formation, hit the enemy's morale of the super cavalry, human tanks - cold weapon era. A solid formation is the foundation to ensure victory, and high morale is the key to victory. Once the enemy's psychological balance and organizational foundation are destroyed, it is equivalent to victory, so the heavy armored cavalry was once the most expensive, important and glorious class.

The hoplites were heavily armoured, completely covered, and even fully protected from the eyes, which was clearly not conducive to hand-to-hand combat—the eye field was very small and largely confined to the front. This mode of manufacture reflects the way heavily armored cavalry is used on the battlefield - charge, turn around and charge again, but never stop hand-to-hand combat! The time when heavy cavalry appeared in China was also similar to the period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties in Western Europe, and it was called Tiefutu. Not only were men and men armoured, but even their horses were fully draped, and a cavalryman was like a tall statue of the god of war, and when they advanced, it was like a steel wall pressing down on them.

Heavy cavalry also has its own shortcomings, generally speaking, the thickness, toughness, strength and coverage area of the armor material must reach a certain degree to ensure that the knight can withstand the general slashing and bow killing. Sufficient thickness and area results in a huge weight, which in turn sacrifices maneuverability. The Mongol light cavalry's victory against the outnumbered Western European knights, with heavy armoured cavalry as the backbone, relied on mobility.

It costs five times as much to build a hoplite cavalry as the same number of light cavalry and ten times as much as the same infantry. In the case of insufficient financial resources, it is impossible to form heavy cavalry. In the West, few monarchs were willing to pay for the construction and maintenance of this army on their own. The most common practice is to use the children of the nobility to form a knight order, usually those idle noble children and more idle wealthy vagabond adventurers in various names of knight training camps for training and competition, wartime according to the class to form a variety of names of knights, all expenses are at their own expense, from their own servants, equipment is provided, the state only provides the necessary food, but wine and meat and the like generally have to prepare their own. These rich knights ate meat and drank wine, some of them had bodies, and of course they were also strong in combat. However, they are definitely not wronged, and the spoils of war after victory belong to their respective knights, and the king will not interfere. In more extreme times, even the castles that were captured were considered private property and refused to be redistributed by the king.

Running with heavily armored cavalry has certain natural limitations in distance and terrain - you can't run fast, otherwise the horses will be finished; It can't be too far, otherwise the man and the horse will die of exhaustion; The time must not be too long, otherwise the cavalry, which is simply impossible to bring more food, will soon lose their combat effectiveness with hunger and thirst; You can't go up mountain roads, into wetlands, into deserts, into forests, or attack fortresses...... What else can you do? There was only a sneak attack, as if the Japanese Minamoto Yoshitsune only 60 heavy cavalry broke through the Heike position of tens of thousands of people from the rear (although the Genke cavalry in this battle was not really heavy cavalry, they could at least dismount and climb the mountain and cross the jungle). They always had to slowly draped up, slowly mount their horses, and slowly line up - note that because of the momentum and the difficulty of braking in time, the heavily armored cavalry without good formation would trample each other severely. If they attacked while they were still on the march, they would have to flee lightly with their followers, which would be an unorganized light cavalry. And more chaotic than the average hussar.

Although the hoplites had such and such shortcomings. But undeniably so. When the two armies were facing each other, a heavy cavalry was suddenly killed, and the blow to the enemy was quite large. This is also the reason why Bai Xianzhong is so excited, you must know that there are not many heavy cavalry in the imperial court at this moment, and all the Guanning iron cavalry belong to light cavalry.

"I don't know how many heavy cavalry the prince is going to build?" Bai Xianzhong asked cautiously, he was afraid that Geng Jingzhong would only say a small number, so even if it was formed, the effect would not be great.

"Not much. Only about 5,000 people! Geng Jingzhong said casually.

"Five, five thousand?!!" Bai Xianzhong said hesitantly. The number of five thousand is not much, that is, it would be good for the court to have two thousand, and the selection of heavy cavalry from soldiers to war horses is extremely strict, five thousand, doesn't that mean that half of the cavalry units to be formed are heavy cavalry? That's kind of scary!

"What, what's wrong?" Geng Jingzhong was very surprised by Bai Xianzhong's reaction.

"Lord Wang, heavy cavalry and light cavalry are not the same! The requirements are very strict in all aspects! Bai Xianzhong reminded cautiously.

Geng Jingzhong now understood. "I know this, and I know you're wrong. I'm talking about heavy cavalry that is not quite the same as the heavy cavalry of the past. The most important change is their armor. I've invited so many foreigners back, have you dealt with them? Do you know what cavalry looks like in Europe at the moment? ”

Bai Xianzhong shook his head: "My subordinates have only discussed the issue of military formations with the Western instructors in the army. The subordinates of the Western cavalry don't know! "What he said is also the truth, Bai Xianzhong didn't expect Geng Jingzhong to suddenly form a cavalry!

"There are also heavy cavalry in the Western countries, but they are called cuirassiers! The original cuirassiers of the Western kingdoms closely resembled the heavily armed heavy cavalry, wearing full-face helmets to protect their entire heads, and heavy armor to protect their entire necks and upper body, legs, and the front of their knees. The most significant difference between cuirassiers and heavy cavalry was that they no longer used spears or war hammers, but instead used light muskets and sabers as weapons, and they no longer wore bulky handguards to facilitate ammunition reloading, and they no longer used armor to protect horses. That's what I want! Geng Jingzhong explained to Bai Xianzhong.

"But, my lord, if you subtract some of the armor, the power of the hoplites will be much smaller!" Bai Xianzhong is still very confused, he doesn't quite understand!

Geng Jingzhong recalled the images of heavy cavalry he had seen in Western movies before, and remembered that he had seen a French movie that said that the early Napoleonic cuirassiers required a height of more than 1.8 meters, and the horses they used were limited to a certain strong breed in a certain area. The main advantage of the cuirass was that it had a certain protective effect on rifle bullets and increased the survivability of the cavalry. In addition, a polished cuirass can act as a certain psychological deterrent. The disadvantage is that the heavy cuirass has higher requirements for both men and horses, so the cost of supplying the cuirassiers is much greater than that of other types of cavalry. And once they lose their mounts, the bulky cuirassiers become inaccessible. In addition to cuirassiers, cuirassiers were equipped with helmets. The French helmet was also made of iron, with fur wrapped around the lower part and topped with a brass headdress, complemented by a horse's mane.

"You don't have to worry about this! The steelmaking workshop has also recently made a new breakthrough and produced the latest type of steel, which is called No. 1 special steel. This steel is much stronger than ordinary steel, has better plasticity, and is not easily corroded and rusted. I'm about to have someone take No. 1 special steel to make a zuò cuirass, and I'm almost certain that this new type of armor, although lighter in weight than the previous heavy armor, will definitely not weaken in defense, and will even be stronger! The weight has been reduced a bit, and the protective effect is still the same, so the overall power will definitely be greatly improved! Geng Jingzhong said confidently.

Historically, after the advent of the age of firearms, the armor of the cavalry was also constantly improved, and the early attempts were to thicken, such as the Spanish Imperial Cuirassiers in the Thirty Years' War in the West, in fact, they were equipped with three-quarter armor, replaced the shin armor with heavy boots, and relied heavily on muskets rather than charge, in order to effectively resist the early muskets, the weight of their armor reached the highest peak of cavalry in history. With the continuous improvement of musket technology and tactics, people gradually realized that the thickening of armor could not solve the fundamental problem, but made the cavalry's charging ability greatly reduced, so the cavalry only retained the cuirass and helmet, and they used more swords or sabers in their hands in battle, reflecting the tactical performance characteristics of the cavalry, so they replaced the bulky cavalry wearing three-quarters armor, such as the Swedish cavalry in the Western Thirty Years' War and the cavalry in the English Civil War.

Since then, the general style of the cavalry cuirass has been determined, but the helmets have often been replaced with a variety of wide-brimmed and triangular hats. In the contest with firearms, armor continued to be inferior, many cavalry abandoned their armor, but the cuirass still retained protection in close combat, and "the polished cuirass had a great deterrent effect." By the time of Napoleon, all countries except Britain retained the formation of cuirassiers. The heroic posture of the French cuirassiers, horsehair helmets, and traditional blue military uniforms are the characteristics that distinguish them from the cuirassiers of other countries.

The weight of the cuirass is about twenty pounds, which is not heavy, but if it does not fit, with the bumps of the horse, it will almost grind the shoulders of the person. So the general cuirassiers wore cuirassiers only at parades and battles. In battle, cuirassiers always appeared on the most dangerous battlefields, launching the fiercest charge against the most stubborn enemies, they were the symbol and soul of the cavalry of that era. However, with the development of military science, cuirassiers were gradually replaced by other arms such as musketeers, and eventually, all cavalry withdrew from the stage of history.

In this day and age, it is necessary to make good armor, but only for cavalry, of course. It is not a problem to make zuò cuirass, if you want to make zuò excellent, hydraulic stamping technology can be solved, such a steel plate, the protection is absolutely excellent, it will not be very heavy and will not interfere with the cavalry action, several aspects combined, will make the new heavy cavalry become another big killer in flat areas!

"Really?" Bai Xianzhong still didn't believe it a little, which was a bit unbelievable, but when he thought of his own prince, he could often surprise people, so he believed it, but from his expression, he could know how much he hoped to be able to see such armor immediately at this moment! (To be continued......)